History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

1784, and he had regular work. He receives scant courtesy from the annalists, and was probably too
independent and eccentric for the military regime of the leaders. The revolutionary storm was
brewing, and Rankin and the English preachers who were still in the country prognosticated evil for
the colonies, and thus paved the way for their retirement. Asbury, more discreet and far-seeing,
labored in Baltimore and the surrounding country; and this leads to a notable event in Methodist
history.
There resided about twelve miles from the city in princely style, Henry Dorsey Gough and family.
He was computed to be worth $300,000 in landed estate and servants. His wife had become
converted, and he went to hear Asbury preach. He, too, was soundly converted, and at once Perry
Hall, his homestead, was a retreat for the preachers and a preaching-place; a chapel was built, being
the first in America with a bell. He afterward fell away under the temptations of his high social
position, but was reclaimed by Asbury, and died in the faith in 1808, while the General Conference
was in session in Baltimore. Asbury was with him and preached the funeral sermon, and a number
of the members attended. His household continued faithful to Methodism long after, and Asbury
often sojourned with them for physical repair and spiritual refreshment.
The revival work of those days and long after was attended with much excitement and
vociferation. Jesse Lee, speaking of a quarterly meeting in Virginia, says, "I left them about the
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setting of the sun, and at that time their prayers and cries might be heard a mile off." The
disaffection in the South over the stringent regulations of Rankin and Asbury against administering
the ordinances was growing with the American feeling of independence, the sentiments and
principles of the one fostering those of the other. It was shared by nearly all of the native-born
preachers and the people. It was rampant in the South, and serious consequences grew out of the
persistent resistance of Asbury to it in after days.
The third Annual Conference convened in Philadelphia, May 17, 1775. There had been another
increase of over 1000 members. Robert Lindsay, John Copper, and William Glendenning were
received on trial. A general fast for the prosperity of the work and the peace of America was ordered
for the 18th of July. The printed Minutes of these Conferences do not cover more for each than a
page and a half of a twelvemo volume. The Revolutionary War had broken out a month before at
Concord and Lexington, and the Colonial Congress met in Philadelphia a few months later. Asbury
was appointed to Norfolk, Va., and he at once set out for his new field. Here, and in Portsmouth and
Brunswick, he labored through the year. The fourth Annual Conference was held in Baltimore, May
21, 1776, in the Lovely Lane chapel, now completed. This year there was an increase of 1800
members, the total being 4921. Among the notable preachers received on trial were Francis
Poythress and Freeborn Garrettson. Asbury started for the Conference, but was taken ill and did not
reach it. He was appointed to Baltimore. Twenty-five itinerants were enrolled. The fifth Annual
Conference was held on Deer Creek in Harford County, Md., May 20, 1777. John Dickins, afterward
prominent, was among the fourteen received. There was a gain of 2000 members for the year, an
increase of one-third, so marvelously did the work prosper amid the strifes and turmoils and
hindrances of war.
The Conference took a precautionary step. Rankin and Shadford had announced their purpose to
return to England, and even Asbury for a time seemed shaken, so much so that the Conference